I Am a Man is a declaration of civil rights, often used as a personal statement and as a declaration of independence against oppression. The term "boy" was used as a pejorative racist insult towards men of color and slaves, indicating their subservient social status of being less than men. The question "Am I not a man?" was brought up during the Dred Scott decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857. During the Civil Rights Movement at the Memphis sanitation strike in 1968, "I Am a Man!" signs were used to answer the same question